Mokpo City Leading 'Job Creation'... Promoting a Total of 47 Types of Job Projects

Establishment of Youth Employment Policy Division and System Construction Including Opening of Youth and Employment Integration Center

Mokpo City Social Economy Enterprise Customized Consulting Training Site. Photo by Mokpo City

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Jeong Seunghyun] Mokpo City, Jeollanam-do announced on the 22nd that it is focusing its administrative capabilities on creating quality jobs.

Since establishing the Youth Job Policy Division in 2019 and opening the Youth and Job Integration Center in 2020, the city has built a system for the effective promotion of job-related tasks.

Along with this, the city is promoting a total of 47 job projects, including Youth New Deal Jobs for nurturing future talents in preparation for the 4th Industrial Revolution, career-type jobs utilizing experienced middle-aged workers, and regional industry-customized job projects. The continuous efforts and achievements Mokpo has made were recognized last year when it received the Jeollanam-do Job Creation Award.

The job projects promoted by the city can be classified into three categories: ▲Youth employment and start-up support programs ▲Expansion of job projects ▲Activation of the social economy.

With youth employment being a national issue, the city is also implementing various projects to solve the problem. Leading the efforts is the Youth JOBGO project, which aims to enhance youth employment capabilities and link them to actual employment, along with 12 other projects such as employment academies and summer/winter part-time jobs, creating 651 jobs.

In addition, the city has promoted the youth start-up financial (seed money) support project, a pledge project of the 7th local government administration, contributing a total of 400 million KRW by last year and guaranteeing/supporting 4.15 billion KRW to 188 young entrepreneurs. Notably, this year, Mokpo was the only city in Jeollanam-do selected for the Youth Challenge Project, a Ministry of Employment and Labor public contest, discovering and supporting 250 discouraged youth job seekers.

Furthermore, the Jeonnam-type New Deal Job project for creating jobs in the non-face-to-face and digital industry sectors is underway, placing 107 young people in 40 local companies and supporting their labor costs. Other ongoing projects to support youth independence include youth retention incentives, housing costs for employed youth, Youth Hope Stepping Stone Accounts, and youth job-seeking activity allowances.

The improvement in Mokpo’s youth employment situation, with the youth employment rate increasing for two consecutive years recently, is interpreted as an effect of these efforts by the city.

The city is also promoting job projects for various other groups beyond youth.

Through public job projects supported by financial aid (public work, community job projects), 1,487 jobs have been created over three years. Especially, by extending the employment crisis area designation three times, the Hope Job Project (40.7 billion KRW) was implemented, providing jobs to 6,496 vulnerable people.

For the employment and economic stability of middle-aged and older adults, projects such as the Experienced Middle-aged Career-type Job Project, Middle-aged Social Contribution Activity Support Project, and Jeonnam-type Companion Job Project have been promoted, resulting in 231 re-employments. The city also held the ‘Mokpo City Job Seeker and Employer Meeting Day’ to resolve mismatches between businesses and job seekers, connecting 79 job seekers to 24 companies.

The activation of social economy enterprises is also a focus of the city.

To this end, the city established a four-year development plan for social enterprises in 2020, aiming to nurture 200 social economy enterprises by 2023. As a result of this roadmap, the number of social economy enterprises in Mokpo increased from only 89 at the launch of the 7th local government administration to 148 (a 66% increase), with employment creation reaching 226 people.

With active promotion and purchase support added to efforts to build a social economy ecosystem, Mokpo was selected as the best institution for purchasing social economy enterprise products in Jeollanam-do in 2020.

This year, through the Jeonnam Social Enterprise Growth Support Center (Ministry of Employment and Labor) attracted by the city, growth support infrastructure will be established, and the Southwest region network will be strengthened to focus administrative power on job creation through social economy enterprises.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.